Only sibling with no children

You need to just make peace with the fact that family stuff is likely to revolve around being child-friendly for a few years. Go if you feel like it, stay away if you don't. And yes, the birthdays etc. can get very expensive. I'm child-free by choice but have 9 niblings and a step-one. I'd probably have the deposit for a house by now if it wasn't for the constant rounds of birthdays, Christmas, graduations, blah blah blah.

Thankfully my family completely respect my choice not to have kids so I don't have to deal with that side of things, but I'd be lying if I said there weren't moments where I've resented the amount of money I've had to spend on other people's kids over the years.

It won't be long before your siblings envy your freedoms that come with being child free.

I'm child free by choice and love my niblings but in small doses. I could never be a full time parent. I'm also the eldest but physically and mentally the youngest of the entire family because my body, mind and sleep patterns haven't been changed by having children and the stresses and responsibilities of being a parent.

My siblings went through a phase of being child obsessed but it passed as the kids got a little bit older. Every conversation no longer revolves around what their kids are doing. Hopefully it's just a phase your siblings are going through too OP.

OP have you ever talked to your sisters about your feelings towards having children or not? I mean in a very clear & open way not just off hand comments if someone asks about having kids. Maybe it's less that they're offended & more that they don't understand as it's a different perspective to theirs. Also I would take you're younger sister being reluctant to tell you more in the way of that (if it hadn't been talked about) she might worry about upsetting you. As a lot of people I know acted blasé about not having kids but behind closed doors were in bits about it.

I'm the youngest in my family so I was the child-free one for the longest time with 8 nieces & nephews. It's a lot with all the birthdays, Christmases, communions, confirmations etc etc but they are part of your family too & there is a stage in the family lifecycle where things do revolve around the kids. It's a good sign though that your sisters do meet up without the kids with you at times. Look it's not easy being that one & there will probably always be a slight element of feeling left out when the discussion turns to what the kids are doing as that is your sisters worlds now.

Not having kids doesn't mean you can't fully embrace that side of things though. My sisters best friend is fully child free by choice. Never wants them, never has, never will. That said she fully embraces my sisters kids (she's like a sister to us to be fair) & gets stuck in with birthdays etc. Just because you don't want them yourself, doesn't mean you can't enjoy the fun part of them at those occasions & happily leave at the end of the day! That was something I definitely enjoyed!

The happiest demographic are single, childless women. Appreciate the fact you have the best of both worlds, you can love & mind your nieces & nephews like theyre your kids while still being able to live your life on your terms & as you choose & as others have said, we're over populated as it is, seriously, theres kids that cant even get places in schools.

I used to work in a home for old people & any of the women there who didnt have children by choice wearnt lonely, they had lots of friends & lived full lives with lots of interesting experiences that they couldnt have had if theyd had kids. There is so much to life & you can make thousands of choices, having children is one choice but definitely not the only one.